Wreck of HIJMS Kishinami | shipwreck

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HIJMS Kishinami was a Yūgumo Class Destroyer in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War, and following her December 1943 commissioning she joined with Destroyer Squadron 11 in the First Fleet. Her stay in the First was short-lived however, as within two months she was reassigned to convoy escort role as a member of Destroyer Division 31, Destroyer Squadron 2 in the Second Fleet.

Spending the next four months escorting merchant and naval convoys, the Kishinami and her crew got their first taste of combat in March 1944 when she assisted in the sinking of the American Submarine USS Trout (SS-202). In combat once more in mid-June at the Battle of the Philippine Sea and once again in October at the Battle of Letye Gulf, the Kishinami managed to emerge from both engagements relatively unscathed, however a near-miss bombing attack while withdrawing from Leyte caused enough damage to send the Destoyer limping for Singapore where she would spend almost a month in drydock.

Emerging from the yard in late November, the Kishinami was assigned to escort the oil tanker Hakko Maru from Singapore to Manila, which she completed without incident on December 1st. After providing a screen against American air attacks for the next day, the Kishinami and Hakko Maru departed on December 2nd on a return trip to Singapore in convoy with three other Destroyers. Only two days out of port, the Kishinami and her charge were spotted by the US Submarine USS Flasher (SS-249), which began to stalk the convoy in an attempt to get into firing position.

Sonar operators aboard Kishinami were able to detect the American Sub maneuvering around them and despite heavy rains lashing the seas around them closed in to attack the submerged contact. The Submarine raised it's periscope at just the right time to see the onrushing Kishinami bearing down on it, and before the crew aboard the Kishinami could fire their first depth charge the Flasher sent two torpedoes straight 'down the throat' of the Kishinami, causing heavy damage and bringing her to a dead stop and starting a large fuel fire.

As the Kishinami's crew raced to damage control stations, the US sub put several torpedoes into the Hakko Maru despite intense depth charge attacks from the other Destroyers in the convoy. The Flasher was able to elude these attacks long enough to get herself back into a firing position on the Kishinami and the Hakko Maru, both of which were heavily aflame and presenting a bright target through the rain squalls. After firing a further four torpedoes, the American Sub withdrew to deeper waters.

Aboard the Kishinami, damage to the ship was all but total. Despite the ships seasoned crew doing everything in their power to check the flooding and fires aboard, the American torpedoes had opened up massive holes along her sides and loosed much of her fuel into the water, where it encircled the ship in a ring of fire. Down heavily by the Bow and listing to Starboard, the Kishinami was ordered abandoned shortly before the ship was struck by a further two torpedoes from the American sub. The Kishinami's already damaged hull could not handle further damage and split apart, and she quickly broke in half and sank at this location on December 4th, 1944. While 150 of her crew were able to get off the ship before she went down, 90 men were lost with the ship.

www.combinedfleet.com/kishin_t.htm